My first marathon (sort of)

I shot photos at a marathon for the first time yesterday. The 33rd annual Marine Corps Marathon had over 25,000 runners, and took over most of Arilngton, Virginia.

Although I had originally secured media credentials to shoot for myself, I signed on with Marathonfoto to shoot candids and souvenir-style photos after runners completed the course. I did it partly because it was my first time shooting a marathon and I though it would be better to learn with other photographers than try to figure it out while it was happening. It was a really long day, starting just after 4am.




I got to the Iwo Jima statue at 5:30am, got my camera, and set off to the start. We had to walk about a mile through the start area to the staging area. then we approached runners in the dark and started taking their pictures. We shot these candids as the sun came up and right through the start of the race.

After the racers were off, we changed flashes and got into our positions for the souvenir photos. Starting around nine am, I stood, kneeled and squatted until three in the afternoon, when there were no more runners lined up. It was exhausting, but I could appreciate that it was meaningful to many of the runners who would bring their families, or pictures of their family members with them for a picture.